Hordes/Warmachine new MKIII Battle Boxes

As promised I continue to follow the Hype Train and collect more of the rumours and facts about the new edition for Hordes and Warmachine.
One big thing for me are the new Battle Boxes because they always help to draw in new people and normally should also provide older players to get into new editions by providing the rules and stuff for a reasonable price. Most of us will buy the MKIII rulebook nonetheless, but for testing it out those should be perfect.

So lets see what the new boxes will offer us:

• MSRP $40 for a battle group (1 caster and at least 2 large or 3 medium models)
• All necessary cards
• Quick rules
• A paper battlemap and terrain
• A paper ruler, dice and tokens

Additional information to these boxes:

• The caster will be Battle Box only (at least for the first time)
• The material will be the same PVC as today (although precolored)
• The paper battlemap is most likely 24x24", which would perfectly fit for introduction games

My impression so far: 

The paper ruler is garbage (it was already in the current box), the battlemap and terrain I don't need (but are nice for beginners). But still I hope that you get more than only this stupid wall, maybe some markers for woods or so.

The rest sounds awesome! If they really will stick to 40$ (which will most likely be 40€ because they always do it 1:1) sounds like a perfect price for a starter box. Also you get a hopefully useful battlegroup. For me the Legion one is somewhat 50:50 because I already have half of the stuff, but maybe I can convert some of the Shredders. For me, at this point, it is a must buy (and maybe I will also get a second faction now).

Warmachine/Hordes: Batrep Nr.3 - Legion vs. Khador

New day, new game, new opportunities. After my lucky win in the Claws & Fangs game the day before, we decided to play a bigger game this time. Since I only had the contents of the 2-Player-Box and a Spawning Vessel, we decided to play a ~25 points match. We also took another scenario from the rulebook, this time the Killing Fields scenario, where you have to conquer and hold 3 objectives on the map for victory points. And we decided to use a chess clock for timing our game, although not counting it as win condition by Deathclock. Just for information how long we use for turns and stuff. Nonetheless we set it to the standard tournament timer of 60 minutes per player.

Khador Epic Kommander Sorsha Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich Juggernaut Kodiak Battlemechaniks Winterguard with Bazookas, Officer and Standard

Legion of Everblight Lylyth, Herald of Everblight Carnivean 2 x Shredder Full Blighted Ogryn Warspears Small Spawning Vessel

My plan was to move one Shredder to the objective on the left, contest the middle one with my Ogryn and fight for the right one with the rest of my army.
In Turn One not too much happens, everything moves forward, my Ogyrns Assault the Winterguard, which is nearly unkillable through Tough, Bob&Weave and Iron Flesh. My left Shredder frenzies and runs to the Winterguard and my Carnivean contests the right objective and kills the Juggernaut. The Spawning Vessel spawns a Stinger but the spray does nothing.
That is already 2 victory points for Khador

Turn Two brings even more death. The Winterguard happily kills all of my Ogryn without me able to do anything against it. My left Shredder advances against the left objective and contesting it. The Spawning Vessel spawns another Stinger, and the Kodiak battles against my Carnivean. Everything pretty tough so far.

In Turn Three I decide to Feat because I see no other possibility to win the game as to go for a caster kill. The Winterguard is at the moment not killable for me and dominates the center of the field.

So I poke Sorscha with Lylyth to get the mark on her, but have not enough Fury to cast Parasite. Nonetheless I have to go all in.
After some rule clarification, I make an Assault with my Carnivean which allows him to spray onto Sorscha. Also my Stingers spray and try to do as much damage as possible. Not enough, but the Carnivean gets into contact and pumps himself up to its maximum fury and kills Sorscha.

If you say now: Uh the charge wasn't possible, that is because the right image is a bit misleading. It was taken AFTER the kill when we discussed who it could have been prevented. NumbDice made the error to move his Mechaniks because he thought his Kodiak needs the support. Otherwise I only could have sprayed which would not have been enough here.

Victory through caster kill (again). If this all or nothing wouldn't have worked, I would have lost the game through scenario. On the left you can see the remaining time (although we played no Deathclock) and the victory points.

Lessons learned this game:
- Again: Time your Feat correctly!
- Fury management -> Couldn't cast an important spell because of missing Fury
- You can wound yourself for Fury in your upkeep!
- Ogryn are no match for the Winterguard deathstar
- Play with enough points! I played with 4 points left as allowed (which I just realized while writing this down)

I also should have played some things differently. First I should have put my Ogryn on the left flank, completely contesting the objective. With no fury management needed, the would have been the much more stable option. Second: The only way in this setup to get the Winterguard is to kill Kovnik Jo. And/Or to bypass the armor (e.g. Spine Explosion on a Shredder).

Hope you enjoyed this battle report. The battle was fought some time ago, some things were only roughly in memory so I could have forgotten something. But in the main it should be OK. If something is unclear, please ask ;)


So long,
Paradox0n

Warmachine/Hordes: Batrep Nr.2 - Legion vs. Khador

Since my Legion of Everblight 2-Player-Box arrived some time ago, Numbdice and Me met for a gaming session and sent our wives on a party :) After scanning through the rulebook and all my stuff, we decided to start with a Mangled Metal match so that I can learn the rules a bit more and get a feeling for the Legion of Everblight.

We grabbed some terrain pieces from my board, got 4 pieces of my modular table and created a terrain which we thought would be nice to play on.

Since Mangled Metal is normally only played with the contents of a battle box, I played pLylyth, 4 Shredders and a Carnivean. My opponent had eSorsha, Juggernaut, Berserker and a Kodiak. Not exactly a battle box but in the points limit and so we played exactly that :)

First round wasn't really spectacular, everything moved forward and we stared each other into the eyes (or whatever Lylyth has). I had to be careful with my Fury since Lylyth can only soak 5 points so with running I was already at the limit.

The second round was a bit more interesting since I didn't run anymore but used the Animus of my lesser beasts to make tough Lylyth and the Carnivean a bit more durable. Lylyth moved into the woods do hide herself and get a bit of shooting into the Jacks.

The Berserker moved in direction of the woods, the other two Jacks charged my Shredders (exactly what I hoped they would do).
On the picture you can see my selfmade tokens in action :)

In the third round the fighting really began, the Berserker battled against my Carnivean, the Kodiak and Juggernaut killed my Shredders and Lylyth bushwacked into safety. At the end of the round, the Berserker exploded and left a pile of garbage in the woods.

All in all I was pretty lucky that nothing more happened to me and the bit of damage I got could be either mitigated or soaked.

So I prepared for the last round of battle, because my Lylyth stood in a good shooting position on Sorsha. And with an Assault order I could also spray on her with my Carnivean. And exactly that I did. The result of: 2 boosted shots on her -> Witch Blood and Parasite and a Carnivean spray you can see on the left picture :)

Win through caster kill. I was really happy with the result, because if that wouldn't have worked, I would have been dead in this or the next round. All my Shredders were killed and my Carnivean can not stand up against 2 Jacks. So it was all or nothing at this point.

Lessons learned in this game:

- Don't forget when to Feat!
- Shredders are nice cannon fodder and can annoy but will not win you a game. Take one for the Animus on your caster
- Lylyth's ability to shoot and move out of the way and THEN cast her stuff is great
- Carnivean is not so bad as thought. Spraying and then close combat is quite effective, especially on feat turn

And we had some spectators on the game. Loki, one of my cats, took a seat and had a suspicious look what we are doing :)

Was a really nice evening, with lots of talking and beer drinking and stuff. Sadly I couldn't convince Labschi from the game. Otherwise I would have playing mate directly in reach.
The second game awaited us then on the next day.

Hope you enjoyed this short battle report. The game was already some time ago, so I also could have forgotten something. But in the main it should be OK. If something is unclear, please ask ;)


So long,
Paradox0n